In this article, the focus is on the individual cases when the call is reasonable.

Small pairs and suited connectors. These hands play well if the players at the table have deep stacks and many of them have entered the pot. Small pairs and suited connectors will not hit the flop very often but when they do run you can win a large bowl. You can crack aces and kings with such hands because your opponents will not put you on trips or straights easily. I still advise you not to play suited connectors too often because many times you will lose a little money and even if you hit your hand, there is no guarantee that other players will pay you out. The few times you run you have to compensate for your losses for all the different seasons. The massive advantage of small pairs and suited connectors is that it is relatively easy to fold these hands on the flop when they do not hit.

Keep weak players in play (sometimes intending to reraise). This is quite logical. If you bet/raise with strong hands maybe you scare away many players. If you are sure that someone will build, just go ahead and make the call. When it is your turn again, you can decide to make a trap play and only call or make a reraise. Calling is high when there are just 1-2 opponents in hand. If there are more callers, then I advise you to make a 3bet. Calling against many opponents is too dangerous because someone might hit the flop and you can lose a huge pot. It is better to make a squeeze play and reduce the number of players.

Defending your blind. You have to give up your blinds often enough, but with high hands, you can make a call. If you only call, your opponents will take it as a sign of weakness, and they will not put you on a monster hand. You can take advantage of that later in hand and keep your bets/raises for the turn or river.

Limping/calling with marginal hands on a loose table. If the other players are too free, then it is harder to make a good bluff. This means you will have a tough time making your opponents lay down their hands. In such cases, it makes sense to call/limp with marginal hands like KQ suited or AT unsuited in middle position. You should probably not 3bet with intermediate pairs if you know that some players will call you anyway.

I hope these tips help you to make decisions in your pre-flop game.

Posted by: maxinehudsonm at 04:27 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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